Currently, pesticides are the primary means of controlling postharvest diseases of fruits and vegetables. However, synthetic pesticides have considerable side effects. As well as the phytotoxic and off-odour effects of some prevalent pesticides, high and acute residual toxicity, and long degradation periods, have limited their use. As a result, there has been considerable interest in the use of natural alternatives as food additives to prevent bacterial or fungal growth and to extend the shelf life of foods. Many naturally occurring compounds such as phenols, aldehydes, and organic acids, present in spices and herb extracts, are known to have antimicrobial activity.
Postharvest potato pathogens such as Erwinia carotovora, Colletotrichum coccodes and Helminthosporium solani have become economically important in the table stock market because disease affected potatoes are rejected by processors due to higher tuber health standards demanded by supermarkets and consumers. At present, management of these diseases relies exclusively on frequent applications of foliar fungicides, rather than protecting tubers directly. No effective fungicides (as resistance to thiabendazole is common) are registered for direct application to tubers for control of these important pathogens in storage.
Throughout this description, including the foregoing description of related art, any and all publicly available documents described herein, including any and all U.S. patents, are specifically incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The foregoing description of related art is not intended in any way as an admission that any of the documents described therein, including pending United States patent applications, are prior art to embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, the description herein of any disadvantages associated with the described products, methods, and/or apparatus, is not intended to limit the disclosed embodiments. Indeed, embodiments of the present disclosure may include certain features of the described products, methods, and/or apparatus without suffering from their described disadvantages.